Netflix's documentary series High Score features a nostalgic-heavy opening credit sequence that celebrates several classic video games; however, the rapid blink-and-you-miss-it pace of the pixel animation makes identifying every one of the references a challenge. Produced by Great Big Story, the limited series serves as a loving tribute to the video game industry's early years: not surprisingly, the opening credits embody High Score's general ethos, offering a loving homage that highlights the fun, exciting nature of those classic early video games.

A spiritual successor to other Netflix's other nostalgic-driven docuseries The Toys That Made Us and The Movies That Made Us, High Score focuses on the video game industry in the '80s and '90s, examining key moments in the industry's history. From the seeming "death" of video games after the record crash in 1983 (caused, in part, by the worst game ever, Atari's E.T.) to the development of eSports, thanks to games like Capcom's Street Fighter IIHigh Score offers viewers an inside look at how the gaming industry came to be the cultural juggernaut it is today.

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High Score has a wide scope, covering not just the rise of Nintendo (and fall of Atari), but also arcade culture in general, paying equal attention to the importance of games like Pac-Man and Mortal Kombat as well as Super Mario Bros. Fittingly, the opening credits contain references to both arcade and home console titles.

Pong and Donkey Kong (and Tetris) Arcade Cabinets

High Score opening credits arcade cabinets

The first reference in the High Score opening credits is two arcade cabinets: Pong on the left and Donkey Kong on the right. Pong, of course, was one of the earliest video games; Atari released their first ever game, a virtual table tennis game, Pong, in 1972. Atari would go on to essentially found the video game industry. Similarly, Donkey Kong is another key arcade game that played an important role in the industry's history — it was Nintendo's breakout into the industry, as seen in High Score, episode 2, "Comeback Kid."

From Pong and Donkey Kong, the animation transitions into the machines. The sequence shows a hand inserting a coin into a cabinet, then briefly shows the gameplay of Pong and Donkey Kong. As the screen shifts to the left, a third arcade cabinet is briefly seen: this one is another '80s-era classic, Tetris.

Super Breakout & Arkanoid

High Score block breaker arkanoid super breakout

The next major game reference in the High Score credits is to early block breakers like Super Breakout and Arkanoid. Both titles feature Pong-like gameplay that involves bouncing a ball off of a "paddle" controlled by the player, with the goal of "breaking" the blocks at the top of the screen.

Kirby's Adventure & Super Mario Bros.

High Score canon Kirby

The next video game reference is to one of Nintendo's cutest game characters: Kirby. Nintendo released Kirby's Dream Land in 1990 for their first handheld system, the Gameboy, which introduced players to a whole new kind of video game protagonist: a cute round pink hero who would swallow enemies and absorb their powers. The scene shows the travelling coin entering a cannon and blasting into the air; although this isn't the most obvious gameplay mechanic from the series — several games from this period use cannons as a mode of travel — fans of the series will recognize the tall, yet thin, round hills in the background as distinctly Kirby.

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The cannon in the sequence doesn't look like the black bulbous cannons in Kirby's Adventure, however, because it blends elements of another iconic Nintendo franchise: Super Mario Bros. Like Kirby, Super Mario Bros, was an early platform video game, and it too often featured tall round hills in the background. The rectangular cliff with grass on top is particularly evocative of the Mario franchise — and the shape of the cannon echoes the iconic pipes used in the Mario games.

Final Fantasy (& Other Fantasy Games)

High Score castle

All of the game references in the High Score credits sequence are ambiguous, celebrating classic tropes from this period in the industry's history. The castle shown in the pixel animation references the role-playing game genre, which is explored in episode 3, "Role Players." The castle itself is shown sitting on top of clouds, perhaps referencing the Flying Fortress in the first Final Fantasy game, released on the NES.

Space Invaders, Galaxian & Galaga

Space Invaders High Score reference

In 1978, Taito released arguably the most influential video game of all time: Space Invaders. The gameplay was simple, yet addictive: the player's ship moves at the bottom of the screen while shooting up at a descending army of dangerous invading aliens. Between the player and the aliens are several blockades that break up as they receive damage. The game spawned a number of similar arcade titles, such as Midway's Galaxian, which was followed by the sequel Galaga.

X-Wing (& Other Flight Simulators)

X-Wing High Score credits reference

The final episode of the limited series, "Level Up," explores the industry's entry into 3D gaming. For Nintendo, this was the space shooter Star Fox, released in 1993. Around that same time, the PC world saw it's own pioneering game: Star Wars: X-Wing. X-Wing was met with universal acclaim for its advanced mechanics and high-entertaining gameplay. For many, the first-person perspective of piloting the spacecraft was revolutionary — sure, cockpit perspectives had been done before with other flight simulators, but never like this. X-Wing was fresh and exciting. Although High Score focuses more on discussing Star Fox, the X-Wing cockpit view is the more iconic visual.

Related: Star Wars Explains Rise of Skywalker's X-Wing Plot Hole

F-Zero  F-Zero High Score reference

In some ways, F-Zero managed to accomplish 3D-like graphics on the Super Nintendo three years before Star Fox did. By using a process known as Mode 7 texture mapping, the graphics in the racing game F-Zero essentially rotated and scaled the background image behind the player vehicle, converting the gameplay into a three-dimensional experience — but without processing polygons (which is what makes Star Fox true 3D). F-Zero was a Super Nintendo launch title that came packaged with the system, and is largely considered among the best Super Nintendo games of all time.  

Sonic The Hedgehog

High Score credits sonic reference loop

Arguably the most obvious reference in this sequence is the image of the coin quickly rolling along a grassy path collecting gold rings, then zooming up and around a loop; even those who never touched a Sega Genesis can recognize the signature style of Sonic the Hedgehog. The classic '90s video game turned Sonic into a Sega icon, and, as the High Score episode "This Is War" discusses, the game's appeal was key to the Sega Genesis's successful entry into the American market.

Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man

High Score Pac-Man reference credits

Another iconic game, Pac-Man is unmistakable — even without the titular circular hero or ghost baddies. Namco released Pac-Man into arcades in 1980, and the deceptively simple maze game took the world by storm. High Score describes the game's appeal, as well as its place in the industry's history. Pac-Man inspired a number of maze-based arcade games in the '80s, such as Lady Bug and Mouse Trap.

The Out Run Series

Car race game high score

The bright red car and friendly crowd shown in the High Score credits is undoubtably an homage to the Out Run series. The original Out Run (sometimes stylized "OutRun") saw players control a hot red Ferrari. The arcade cabinet was stylized after the game's car; not only did the cabinet look cool (and draw in prospective customers) but it added an immersive element to gameplay. Out Run was one of those rare games that found equal success in the arcades in the '80s and as a home console port in the '90s. The Netflix limited series didn't dive too deep into racing games, but if it gets another order of episodes, Out Run and the racing games it inspired would be a fascinating topic to dive into.

Wolfenstein, Doom, and Early First Person Shooters

First Person Shooter High Score reference

The quick flash of a futuristic space corridor seen in the High Score opening credits is not a direct reference, but a pastiche to early first person shooters (although it does look a bit like 1994's Alien Vs. Predator game). High Score's 3D gaming episode "Level Up" explores the origins of one of PC's most iconic and influential games: DoomDoom was developed by id Software, the same company that published the highly-successful 3D shooter Wolfenstein for PC years prior. Doom not only improved the gameplay mechanics introduced in Wolfenstein, but also completely revolutionized the genre by introducing a multiplayer option. The reference is likely a nod to those games, as well as a playful celebration of more contemporary space-themed FPS games like Halo.

Related: The Predator Makes Alien vs. Predator Canon Again

Asteroids (& Other Multi-Directional Shooters)

High Score grid game reference Asteroid

The Asteroids reference in the opening credits is brief — only a couple of frames long — and is much more colorful than the 1979 arcade classic; however, the gameplay is instantly recognizable to anyone familiar with multidirectional shooters. These last few references that occur at the end of the High Score animation appear to blend more contemporary games into their homages, and in this case, Asteroids is being updated with an vibrant, geometric aesthetic that echoes another classic (although more recent) game: the Geometry Wars franchise.

Bust-A-Move

High Score Bust a move

Simple, basic, and incredibly addictive, the puzzle arcade game Bust-A-Move is another classic arcade game featured in the High Score opening theme. Although this is an homage to the game, rather than a direct replication (Bust-A-Move featured bubbles, not blocks, and had cute dragon mascots arguably more recognizable than the game itself) the cannon at the bottom and the multicolor blocks at the top are clearly inspired by Bust-A-Move. Contemporary tile-matching games like Bejeweled and Candy Crush Saga owe a lot of their gameplay mechanics to this '90s arcade staple.

Earthbound  Earthbound High Score reference

Another clear reference in the High Score credits is its homage to Earthbound. There's a reason why cartridges of the SNES "bomb" Earthbound are among the most expensive and sought-after among collectors; Earthbound failed to find its audience when it first arrived in North America, but it went on to develop a fierce cult following in the RPG community. From the kid wielding a baseball bat to the ridiculousness of the "Ghost King" enemy, the brief image in the High Score animation is a tribute to the playful qualities that make Earthbound such a unique title.

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RPG Games (& Possibly Animal Crossing)

Cat reference High Score credits

A quick image of an anthropomorphic blue cat wearing contemporary attire is one of the blink-and-you-miss-it images at the end of High Score's opening animation sequence. Contemporary gamers likely will think first of Nintendo's popular Animal Crossing series — especially because of the small houses in the background; however, given that the first Animal Crossing game came out much later than the period covered in High Score, the reference is problematic. Another possibility is that the blue cat is a wink to Doreamon, a popular Japanese cat-like character. The scene's general style is also reminiscent of the point and click educational games popular in the '80s and '90s, like the Freddi Fish and Pajama Sam series.

Tempest

Tempest High Score Reference credits

Another popular arcade staple, Tempest was a unique game with instantly-recognizable gameplay mechanics. The Atari game featured simple geometric shapes to represent enemies, similar to Space Invaders, and featured an early form of 3D graphics for gaming.

Marble Madness

High Score Marble Madness reference

Atari released a number of unique — and surprisingly dynamic — arcade games in the early '80s, including Marble Madness: a puzzle-infused platform game that required players to navigate a "marble" through a maze using a trackball. High Score references this game, but adds in elements from another similar game: Super Monkey BallSuper Monkey Ball is a more recent iteration of the same basic principals of Marble Madness (with a multiplayer option), but adds the speed guide in the bottom left corner, as well as generally updating and expanding the gameplay.

This brief sequence in also features two other distinct images that may be additional, separate, games. There is a close up image of a treasure chest, which is such a ubiquitous video game trope that it's impossible to identify a single source of inspiration. The other image is more mysterious: it almost looks like a closeup of a Go board, but the black and white round stones are in the centre of squares rather than the intersecting lines. The Chinese strategy game is infamously difficult to program as it requires incredibly complex artificial intelligence, even more so than chess.

The Legend of Zelda

High Score bomb reference Zelda

The references in the High Score animation are at times obtuse, such as the brief glimpse of a blue bomb against a grey rock. There are a number of retro bomb-themed games this image could be referencing (Bomberman, Bomb Jack, etc.); however, given it's proximity to a large grey boulder, as well as it's vibrant blue color, the reference is likely to The Legend of Zelda. Like Mario and Kirby, the hero from the Zelda games, Link, is an iconic Nintendo character. Using bombs to blow up rocks and solve puzzles has been an intrinsic part of the Zelda games since The Legend of Zelda came out in 1986.

Related: Every Kakariko Village In The Legend of Zelda Series (& How They Change)

Missile Command

Missile Command reference High Score credits

The last reference to an original wave arcade game in High Score's animation is a few brief frames that recreate the gameplay of Missile Command. This was another popular Atari game from the "Golden Age," originally released in 1980. Missile Command is featured in episode 1, "Boom & Bust."

Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, & Other Fighting Games

Street Fighter reference High Score

The final game image in the High Score animation is another pastiche that combines elements from two iconic fighting game franchise: Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. The action specifically recreates the introductory animation for Super Street Fighter II: Turbo, which shows Ryu throwing his signature hadouken at the screen. Instead of Ryu, however, the fighter is a mysterious figure in a mask — echoing Mortal Kombat's mascot, Scorpion (as well as Sub-Zero, another popular character).

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